It's good to be with you this
morning. Do ask your prayers as I attempt to preach this message
to you. There's a lot of ground to cover
here. And I pray God give me the grace
to I don't want to rush over it. I don't want to rush through
it. But I do desire to be as clear
and as plain as the text. The text is plain. The text is
clear. And it's always my desire that
you hear the word of God. I'm irrelevant. My opinions do not matter. It doesn't enter into the equation. What matters is what God says. And that's what I desire you
to hear. Hear Him. I pray that He will speak to
you. And I confess that if He doesn't,
you won't hear it. That's just the truth. He does
not speak to you. You cannot demand of Him anything. You understand that? You can't
demand God of anything. That's why I'm so thankful the
scripture says God's merciful. If God were not merciful, I would
have no hope that you'd hear anything. But He is merciful
to one group of people, those who need mercy. If you
don't need mercy, He won't be. But only those that need mercy.
What do you find that need mercy? You find him merciful. You find
him to be wholly true. And I pray this morning he would
be merciful to you and to me. Pray for those who are sick. Pray for Angela, she continues
to grieve for our brother. Uh, pray for Terrence. He's sick this morning and not
able to be here. Uh, everything recording. Okay. Back there. Okay. Uh, ask God to be gracious to
him and others who are sick. Rick, have you heard from Rick?
Okay. All right. We'll pray for Rick and, uh,
others who are not able to be here. Let's go to him in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven,
we bow again before you, pleading for your mercies, your
grace, your compassion. I'm so thankful for the promise
that where two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ,
that he is among us. He is always faithful. He is
always with us when his gospel is preached. But I beg you this morning, Father,
by the Holy Spirit, that you would send forth your spirit
into the heart of the preacher, into my mind. Give me those words
that are necessary, Father, for your people. I pray this morning
that you would be gracious to shine forth the light of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That you should receive all glory
and majesty and dominion and power for salvation belongs to
you. And I pray that you would give
it to whomsoever you will. Father, I pray that you would
take this message in the hearts of those that believe that they
might find comfort that salvation is completely of your will, of
Christ's work, and the power of the Spirit. based on any works that we do. I pray that you would show this,
reveal this. Father, forgive us our sins and
cleanse us of our unrighteousness in these things we plead in the
name of Jesus our Savior and for his sake. Amen. All right, take your Bible and
turn back with me to Romans chapter nine. Romans the ninth chapter. Now, In the previous chapter,
the apostle had come to the highest point of comfort concerning the
gospel of Jesus Christ, that we have been justified by God. Therefore, no one is able to
charge us with sin. You that believe. We are justified
by God. Is there anything higher than
that? We have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, so then
there is no more condemnation for sin. Who is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died. He paid
the sin debt. Christ rose again. He satisfied
God's justice. Christ is seated. His work is
done. It's finished. He's seated at
the right hand of God, ruling over all things. He is constantly,
perpetually interceding for us before God. And the conclusion
is the highest. Who then shall separate me from
the love of God that's in Christ Jesus? Is there anything, Paul
said, anything that's able to? He said, no. I am persuaded that
neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities nor powers
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God that's in Christ Jesus. That's the crescendo.
That's the highest point. There's nothing else. Nothing
can separate me from His love. In chapter 9, the Apostle now
begins to express his concern. He comes down to see the nation
of Israel, his kinsmen. in love for them, desires them
to be saved. He said, if I could, now He just
told you it's impossible, there's nothing to separate Him. He said,
if it were possible, I could wish myself accursed from Christ,
if it would save my people, my brethren. He loved them that
much. And last time I expressed this in the message, and I know
it didn't get out. I messed up on the recording, isn't it? Just
for those that were here, this is a lesson for us in love, isn't
it? He loved the very people that put him in prison. His desire
for them was that they should be saved. But now the apostle is intending
to do this because there is a seeming problem with this. There's a
seeming problem that's got to be answered. Now in this chapter,
there are three objections to God's salvation by sovereign
grace. Three objections to the sovereign
election of God. And over the years that I've
preached, these three objections encompass every objection somebody's
had. It's amazing, it's staggering.
I've had many people object to the sovereign election of God.
These three objections cover it all. So when you have someone
objecting to the sovereign election of God, in this chapter, these
three objections are noted. The first objection is found
in verse 6 concerning the Word of God. Paul knew that when he
prayed for his brethren, this was going to be an objection.
Well, Paul, listen, if God loved Israel, and you just said that
they can't be separated from His love. Well, how is that true? God promised to save Israel.
And Israel's lost. Does that make the Word of God
of none effect? Did God's Word fail? That's what's going to be asked.
And what does he say? No. Is God's word of none effect?
The second objection, and Paul is going to explain that, look,
just because they're Hebrews and they're Jews, that doesn't
mean they're all saved. Why? Because it's not physical
Israel God's saving, it's spiritual. And who are they? They are the
elect. And so in verse 14, Paul states another objection
concerning election. He's going to say, was God unrighteous?
How could God choose one and reject another? How's that fair? I hear that all the time. Well,
is God unrighteous? No. No. And he explains this. And the
last one is found in verse 19. He said, why does he find fault?
If God chose people before they were born and not having done
good or evil, how can God blame them when they reject? And Paul's going to answer that.
He's going to answer it this way. Who in the world do you
think you are? Who do you think you are? And
I want to go over these. I said it is simply, but we're
going to go over these somewhat thoroughly. Now, the apostle
here. Answering the objection of the
Jews and again. He said God's salvation is sure
and everyone who is saved is Cannot be removed. Well, the
problem is what about the Jews? Here's the objection that God
promised God promised to save Israel. We'll give you a couple
of verses look to look at Isaiah 45 Isaiah 45 and look at verse
16 Now this is the promise of God
concerning Israel. In verse 16 he says, ìThey shall
be ashamed and also confounded, all of them. They shall go to
confusion together that are makers of idols.î What is he saying?
All the wicked, all the lost, theyíre going to go to confusion.
Theyíre going to be damned. But, hereís one, ìBut Israel
shall be saved the Lord well Paul what does he is he just
talking about a physical thing look at what he said with an
everlasting salvation That is he swears that Israel is going
to be saved now. We're just any now. We're just
a temporal salvation an everlasting salvation Look at Jeremiah look at Jeremiah
and And look at verse 33. Chapter
33. Look at verse 25. Thus saith the Lord... Now speaking of his... Let's
look at verse 24 instead. He said, Considerest thou not
that this people hath spoken, saying, The two families which
the Lord hath chosen, he hath cast them off? Thus they have
despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before
them. In other words, God had cast
Israel into such a dark place, into captivity, that the whole
world said, Israel is gone. That's not going to be a nation
anymore. Look what God says. He says, Thus saith the Lord,
If my covenant be not with day and night, if I have not appointed
the ordinance of heaven and earth, Then will I cast away the seed
of Jacob and David, my servant, so that I will not take any of
his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
For I will cause their captivity to return and have mercy on them. God says, when the day and night
stop listening to me, that's when I'm going to cast them off.
When is that? When will he cast Israel off? God says, never! I will never
cast them off. I will deliver them from their
bondage. People now say, look Paul, you're
praying for their salvation. How can both of these be true?
The nation of Israel rejected Christ, crucified Him, and they're
lost. And you even admit it. You just
said, I pray for their salvation. Now how can both of these things
be true? God promised to save Israel, and yet the nation of
Israel had rejected Christ. How can these be true? You say the love of God is immutable,
Paul. Is that true? Religious people think they always
got God. I mean they think they got ha
I got it I found something You ain't found no objection that
some other man hadn't come up with a hundred times over If the Word of God says he's
going to save Israel and Israel is lost is the Word of God failed
I was God's promises forfeited,
His purposes frustrated. Look at verse 6. He says, God
forbid, not as though the Word of God had taken none effect.
No, the Word of God stands firm. When God promised to save Israel,
listen to me, God will save Israel. When God promised to deliver
Israel, God will deliver Israel. When God promised to love Israel,
God will love Israel. The difficulty is easily done
away with when you see this, that not all Israel are Israel. Look at this. He says, For they
are not all Israel. which are of Israel. He's showing you that there are
two distinct Israels here. There is an Israel that is after
the flesh. There is a national Israel. There is a physical descendant
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And without doubt, God gave that
nation special promises. Special promises. Look back up
there, he says in verse 4, Who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth
the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the
law, the service of God, and the promises? But the error of those who question
the promises of God is that you suppose that God somehow failed
because the nation of Israel failed. So the question is, who is Israel? Who is the real, the true Israel
of God? The true Israel of God is not
a carnal people, but a spiritual people. The true Israel of God Not that nation, but a spiritual
kingdom. Those God purposed to save, promised
to save, are not the seed of Abraham after the flesh. Now the nation of Israel, friends,
listen to me, the purpose of it. Everything God gave Israel
in the Old Testament was physical. He gave them a physical worship
service, didn't he? He instituted a worship service.
He gave them a law. He made them a special people
that if they honored that law as a nation, God would keep their
enemies from conquering them. And He did. You have all this
history of God promising that. And what happened? When they
left God and went after other gods, what did God do? God allowed
these other nations to come in. And then what? They cried unto
the Lord and He delivered them. Physical, carnal deliverances.
Does that mean that all of them were saved? No. We have many accounts of Jewish
people who are the seed of Abraham who were lost. They were lost. So what was Israel's purpose? To be a type. Okay, consider
the tabernacle. That tent out there in the wilderness.
God gave them the dimensions of that tent. He told them exactly
how to make it. Now what's the purpose of that
tent? Did that tent actually help in their salvation? No. The tent was a type. It was a
picture of Christ, wasn't it? It had badger skin on the outside,
ugly. It was ugly on the outside. But
on the inside it was embroidered with gold and purple and scarlet. Inside was the tabernacle, was
the Ark of the Covenant. Inside was the glory of God. That's just a picture of Christ,
wasn't it? He didn't have any beauty on the outside. But inside
He was God, manifest in the flesh. That high priest, did that high
priest save anybody? No. He had to offer those sacrifices
over and over and over and over. Those sacrifices that they gave
could never save anyone. They were what? A type, a picture
of Christ. Christ is our high priest. Christ
is our offering. Christ is our altar. Christ is
the Ark of the Covenant. Everything in that dispensation
pictured Christ. Well, what did Israel picture?
They pictured the elect of God. They pictured God's people. Spiritual
Israel. Spiritual Israel. And so look at verse 7. He said,
Neither because of the deceit of Abraham, or the old children. We have a lot of confusion about
that little land in Israel over there. People always barking
and talking. These are God's people, God's
chosen people. There is no doubt the Jewish
nation had a place and a part. But now that Christ's come, there's
no more need for types. No more need for pictures. I
believe God's got a people over there just like He's got a people
over here. And those people over there are
no more the children of true Israel than we are. I'm sure one day that God will
go over there and there may be more Jews saved than there are
Gentiles at one point. But that doesn't make us any
less the nation of Israel. So not all the seed of Abraham,
but notice this. He said, but, here's the key,
in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Well, who are? But the children of promise are
counted for the seed. Just as Isaac and Ishmael, Now
consider, he's bringing your mind back to that time where
Abraham was promised a son. And you remember, him and his
wife schemed, and they said, well, you just take my handmaid,
Hagar, and you have a son by her, and we'll fulfill the will
of God together. We'll do it. We'll help him out.
He needs some help in this. And so what? They had a natural
son. Was that anything miraculous about that? No, Hagar was fine. Her womb wasn't dead. She could
have a child. And remember, that child was
Ishmael. But remember, God said, that's not my chosen. Ishmael,
wasn't he a son of Abraham? Wasn't he just as much a son
of Abraham as Isaac? He was. Yet God did not choose
Ishmael. God chose Isaac. In Isaac shall Christ come, shall
thy seed be called. See, it was in the seed of Isaac
that God promised. Well, you say, well, you know,
that's pretty good, but you know, Ishmael had a different mother,
so that makes him a little special case, right? Well, he goes even
further. He said, well, what about Isaac's
son, Jacob. Look at that in verse 9, he says,
For this is the word of promise, that at that time will I come,
and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
hath conceived by one, even our father Isaac. Remember, he is
a pure seed of Abraham, isn't he? Ishmael may have been a half-son,
But Isaac was a pure son. And when Isaac had children,
remember, he had twins in the womb of his wife Rebekah. They both came from Isaac. And yet we read this, verse 11,
for the children, being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Now why did God do this? Because
he wanted to preach to you the doctrine of his electing grace. That's why he did it. He's done this all throughout
history. God chose a rejected Cain and
loved Abel. When? Before they were born.
He did that throughout history, but he puts a magnifying glass
on this one so he can see it. Neither having done good or evil
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not
of works, but of him that calleth, he saith to her, the elder shall
serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. So what made the difference between
national Israel and spiritual Israel? Simply put, the election
of God. You had two children in the same
womb, at the same time, born minutes apart, and yet before
they were born, before they had any capacity
to good, listen, or evil, God said, I have loved Jacob
and hated Esau. What makes a difference between
national Israel and spiritual Israel? It is the election of
God. It is the election of God and
not of works. Here the word of God declares
clearly and plainly that the purpose of God according to election
is the root of all salvation. What is the root of all salvation? Where did it begin? All salvation is rooted in the
eternal election of God. That before the world, if you
could ever imagine a time, Before there was any creation
whatsoever, when God existed alone, by himself, perfectly
happy in the trinity of his persons, God chose a people for himself. Now you hear this, well God chose
a people, he looked down the portals of time, he saw what
they would do, and he made his election based on what they'd
do. Is that what the text said? Before they had done what? Any
good or evil. God did not base his election on what you would do. His election is totally based
on his sovereign will alone. that God purposed to save some
of Adam's race. He loved some with an eternal,
immutable love, and God in love purposed to save them. And throughout
history, He gave His promises that Christ should come and redeem
them. Why? Because that's how God purposed
to save them. How did God purpose to save you?
He purposed to save you by one means. And I don't care if you
were Jacob, or Isaac, or Paul, or any of the church in Ephesus,
or any of the church at Redeemer's Grace. this morning, if you are
saved, God purposed to save you the same way He saved everyone
else. By Jesus Christ. That's it. This is the only means
God purposed to save sinners. Through Jesus Christ. You know this well, Ephesians
1. Look at it. Tell me if it's not true. Tell
me if this is not what the Word of God says. according as he hath chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Misunderstand that? Can you? Can you? Now you'd have to really
go to great lengths to try to make that say something else. You would have to do some gymnastics.
You'd have to do some academic reasoning. You come to that text
and you say, well, that can't be true, so I've got to figure
out something else. No, just read it. According as God chosen us in
Christ when? Before the foundation of the
world. Purpose. Why? That we should be holy. That's what he did. He said,
you, Israel, my people, my elect, I purpose that you should be
holy and without blame before me. Why? In love. Having predestinated. Oh, that's good. Predetermined. Preordained. Ordained before. What? That we should be His sons. Predestinated is under the adoption
of children. How? Listen to this. Two words
by Jesus. By Jesus. How is he going to
do that? By Jesus. That's how he's going to do it. Now what in the world was this
all for? By Jesus Christ to himself. Listen,
according to the good pleasure of his will. Now why God do it
that way? Because he willed to do it that
way. What do I care about what men
think? That's how God decided to do it. If you despise this, it is simple. You despise the will of God. You think you should be in charge. I don't like that. I think I'd
do it a different way. Does it really matter what you
think? According to the good pleasure
of His will. Listen to the praise of the glory
of His grace. This is why God does it. He is
going to magnify His grace. He is going to be glorified by
His people. Who is to receive then all the
glory? If salvation is by the will of
God, by the work of Christ, by the application of the Holy Spirit,
in an eternal covenant, who gets the glory? You that are saved. What do you
have to glory in? What made you so special? That's
what Israel thought, they were special. They thought, well,
I'm the son of Abraham. I'm special. No, you're just
a type. I don't make you special. The
only thing that made you different was this. God loved you. And so now God purposed the election
of spiritual Israel, but now we see that the Son of God is
made flesh, He came and He honored the law, He obtained righteousness
by His obedience, thus fulfilling, listen, the Word of God is not
void, because Jesus Christ has come. God promised to save Israel,
and Jesus came, and what did He do? He saved Israel. What was the first prophecy when
he came, before he was born, before he was manifest in the
flesh? The angel came and he said this,
Thou shalt call his name Jesus. Jehovah saves. Now why are they going to call
him that? Why that name? For the word of God is Very true. For he shall save, listen, his
people from their sins. He which was promised to come
has come. And look now, he is rejected
of Israel. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not, John says. Wasn't that true? The nation
of Israel rejected him? Isaiah prophesied about this.
Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? He came to his own, his own received him not.
Go to Isaiah 53 and look at this. Who did He come for? Who did
He come to save? Is the Word of God of none effect?
Israel's lost. God promised to save them and
they're lost. No, it's because you misunderstand who real, true
Israel is. Look at Isaiah 53, verse 7. He said, he was oppressed. He was afflicted. Yet he opened
not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, as a sheep before his shears is done, so he opened
not his mouth. You know what? People who totally reject Christ,
they really try to disprove that this text was not written before
Christ. They even take this to say, this
had to be written after his death. Why? It's so vivid, isn't it?
Who else could this describe? Whoever went to judgment keeping
their mouth shut when they were innocent. I'll tell you this,
people accuse me of something, and man, if I'm innocent of it,
I'll bark it. They try to accuse me of something
I didn't do. It's in our nature. Christ said
He didn't even open His mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. Who shall declare His generation,
for He was killed, cut off out of the land of the living? Isn't
that true of Christ? You know, He had no physical
sons, no physical generation after Him. Who's going to declare His generation? Now, why was He cut off? Listen.
For the transgression of who? My people. My people was he stricken. He had made his grave with the
wicked and the rich in his death. Isn't that true? He was crucified
with two thieves and given a rich man's tomb. How could you not
see who that is? That's the only man that ever
did that. That's Christ. Because, listen, he did no violence,
neither was there deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. Why did it please God to kill
his own son? Because of the love for his people. God made Christ to be sin for
us. He bore that sin. God could not
receive His elect people except their sins be justly paid for.
And so when Christ died, it pleased the Lord's justice. When He was
made sin, it satisfied His justice to enact vengeance on His Son. And He did. full measure of God's
wrath poured out on Jesus Christ. And God was pleased. He put him
to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, listen to this, he shall see his seed. Who is that? That's his elect.
When he crucified Christ, he crucified me. When Christ died, I died. When Christ was buried, I was
buried with Him. When Christ rose again, so did
all of Israel rise with Him. Why? Because the salvation of
Israel was in the hand of Christ. God gave it to Him. He said,
here's my people. The Son took His people and said,
I will be surety for them. I will be their high priest.
I will be their offering. And when he died, God says, I'm
satisfied. I'm satisfied. Who? For his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see of the trail of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify who? How many? Well, it just says
many. And say, everyone? Will his righteous
servant justify everyone? No. Many. For he shall bear their iniquities. Who? The many. Whose iniquities
shall he bear? The seed. Whose iniquities shall
he bear? His people. Not everyone. His people. So upon the cross,
God hath laid on him the iniquity of us all and God's people, for
God's people, and God's justice was satisfied for them. Now then the question is this,
was Christ's offering successful? That's a valid question. It is a valid question. Christ
was sent to die for his people. It was for their iniquities He
suffered. It was for their iniquities God
was satisfied. Was He successful? Look at Hebrews
chapter 9. This is a very important word. Once. Once. How do I know He was successful?
Listen to me. Because He did it once. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 12.
Now those goats and bulls, what were they? I told you they're
a type of Christ, right? Look, he said when he entered
into heaven, he didn't do it with the blood of goats and calves,
but with his own blood. Entered in, how many times? Once. Into the holy place, and what
did he get? What did his offering get? having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Paul is speaking only to believers. For us. Look at verse 27. As it is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of... Many, many. And unto them, the many that
look for him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. Without a doubt, Jesus Christ
was victorious to pay the death, by his death, the redemption
price. But for whom was it paid? Now listen to me. False religion, and I don't care
where you find them. They all agree on one thing.
This is a hallmark of all false religion. They all agree that
Christ died for everyone. Now if you are under a teaching,
you can just automatically count it. It's false. run away is false. They all agree to it that Christ
died for everyone, that God loves everyone without exception. There's one great problem with
this. The Word of God does not teach it. The Word of God does not teach
it. God loves Israel. God saved Israel. God loves many. Christ justified many by his
one offering. Therefore, Paul concludes, look
at chapter 10, when he came to do the will of God, he said in
verse 9, lo, I come, chapter 10 in Hebrews, lo, I come to
do thy will, O God. What's the will? Take away the
first and He may establish the second. The covenant of works,
He removes that and He establishes the covenant of grace. By the
witch will, we are sanctified. Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ, listen, here's that word again, once for all. Now what's the difference between
that and the Old Testament high priest? For every man standeth
daily ministering, oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin. But this man, different, this
man's offering is different. After he had offered one sacrifice
for sin, sat down forever on the right hand of God, henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever the whole world without exception.
What does it say? Is that what it says? Them that
are sanctified. Who are they? The ones sanctified
in verse 10 by the will of God. Israel. Israel was set apart
by the will of God. Israel was made holy through
the offering of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ perfected everyone
sanctified by the will of God and by His offering. And the proof of his success
was what? His resurrection from the dead. Thus, we see the whole of God's
salvation was purposed and decreed by grace from eternity. And salvation was accomplished
for the elect. Therefore, we conclude that salvation
is of grace without the merits or will of man. Now, the election is not difficult
to understand. This is what I get. It's just
too hard to understand. It's not. It's hard to believe. Impossible to believe, except
God show it to you. You understand this, that God
chose a people for the foundation of the world. Is that hard? Not
everyone, a people. His people, many. I don't know
who they are. It's not my business. I don't
go around picking and choosing. I don't have any clue. But God chose a people. He agreed
that Christ should be the Savior of those people and Christ saved
them. Is that hard to understand? And just as sure as Christ saved
them, listen to me, The Spirit of God will come to every one
of them, and they will believe on Jesus Christ alone. Go to 2 Thessalonians and see
if this is true. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, look
at verse 13. Now tell me if this is hard for
you to understand. The apostle says, we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you. Brethren, listen, beloved of
the Lord. Now how in the world could one
know they are beloved of the Lord? Listen, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you. Listen to these words, to salvation. When you were born, you weren't
born saved, were you? But you were chosen to be saved. Now Christ accomplished your
salvation long before you ever knew it. Before you were conceived. Christ had already obtained your
salvation. Didn't He just say that? He went
into the heavens once and obtained eternal redemption for us? He
did. He got it. saved His people from their sins. He did that. He accomplished
it. God raised Him from the dead. But when you were born, you didn't
have any clue. You were just like everyone else. You were born dead in sin just
like everyone else. You hated God just like everyone
else. You loved sin just like everyone
else but God. You see how this gives no glory
to man? You see how I get nothing from this? I get no praise for
myself in this. I'm just like everybody else.
I was lost. I was dead. I had no desire for
God. None. I had heard the gospel
most all my life. But it wasn't until God spoke
to me and said, live. I didn't know I was dead until
he said, live. I didn't even know it. Well, I was dead. That's why I didn't know it.
I was dead. But when I realized I was dead, it's because he said,
live. And when he said, live, was he
asking a question? Was he giving me an invitation?
Pretty please, will you please live? If you do this, I'll give you
life. You ever said that to a dead man? Hey, pretty please, if you, I
got some water here, if you just drink it. Can't do that, dead. When God
said live, it was not an invitation, it was a command. Do you know
what I lived? I saw my dead condition. I saw
that I couldn't please God. I saw it. You couldn't convince
me otherwise. I was destined for hell. I deserved every bit of it. If
He sent me to hell, I deserved every bit of it. God sent me
to live. He showed me His Son and what
He did. And that moment I said, I believe.
I believe! Did I believe according to the
volition of my will? Was it the power of my will?
No. It's simply because this. God
chose me. God loved me. Why would he do that? Christ died for me. Christ lives to intercede for
me. His Spirit keeps me. I look back and I see Him so
many times. I should have left. I would have
left. Yet I see His hand constantly
keeping me. I know this. If He does not keep
me, Until the day of my death, I cannot keep myself. What is my hope? My hope is that God chose me. You know what he told his disciples?
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Isn't that simple? Isn't that complicated to understand? And I know this, that if you
will not believe and you die in your unbelief, it's a simple
manifestation of this truth, God hated you from eternity. Depart from me. It will be the
last word you hear from him if you do not believe. Depart from
me. You that were iniquity. Listen to these words. I never
knew you. You were never mine. I never died for you. I hated you. Back to your text. I'm not going
to get to the other ones, I promise. I just don't have the time. Maybe
we live back in the 1800s and some of those men last and preach
for two hours, but I know we can't endure that in this generation. Look what you're going to say
to me. I've told you that God chose a people, Christ died for
them, and the Spirit's going to call them, and not one of
the Listen, that's what Jesus said. Listen, Jesus said, All
that the Father giveth me, not one more or one less. Listen
to that. Who's going to come to Him? All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And when they do,
I'm not going to cast them out. Why? My Father chose them. I
died for them. I came not to do mine own will,
but the will of Him hath sent me, and this is His will, that
of all He hath given me. I should lose nothing. Now, who
is he going to lose? Religion tells you he's going
to lose a bunch of people. Religion tells you he dies for everybody,
he loves everybody, and he's going to lose some of them. Christ said, I should lose nothing. Well, how many is he going to
lose? How many of his elect will he
lose? Nothing. I will raise him up again at
the last day. Why? Because I chose them. For the children not yet being
born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of
God, according to election, might stand, not of works. Salvation
is not of works, any works whatsoever, but of him that calleth. He said
to her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. What will you say to
that? What is the objection that comes?
Now prove the word of God is valid. Israel is going to be
saved. And Israel is not that nation.
Israel is the elect. Now what you're going to say
to me is this. Is God unrighteous to do such a thing? Well, that's
not fair. Two babies inside the womb of
a mother and God says, I love this one and I hate this one.
What are you going to say? He said, that's not fair. That's
not fair. I think you misunderstand. First of all, you misunderstand
what sin really is. When they were conceived in that
womb, they were conceived in sin, both of them. They had not
done anything, but they were a product of Adam. They were
a product of Adam. Well, you're going to say to
love one, to hate one, God's unjust. Now, I wrote this down
because I want you to see this. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
were having a discussion about the election of God, neither
one of them believed it. But this is what Thomas Jefferson
said about anyone who believes in the doctrine of election.
Now, he uses John Calvin because Calvinism is the derogatory term
for what we believe. This gospel existed long before
Calvin, put it into five points, didn't really matter, existed
long before that. But listen to what they say of
this doctrine. They said, I can never join John Calvin in addressing
his God. He was indeed an atheist, which
I can never be. Or rather, his religion was demonism. If ever a man worshipped a false
god, he did. And being described in his five
points is not the god whom you and I acknowledge, but a demon
of malignant spirit. It would be more pardonable to
believe in no god at all. than to believe the blasphemy
of him who believes the sovereignty of God. This is the heart of everyone
who denies the sovereign election of God. Is it no wonder? I mean, I hope
I'm preaching as plain as I possibly can, that everyone can understand
what I'm saying. I want you to know this is why the building
is not full. It's why you're not here. People don't have any
love for this. Matter of fact, they despise
it. They believe our God to be a
monster because he loved one and hated the other before they
had done anything. Is God unrighteous to do that?
What's the answer? God forbid. God forbid. I'm just going to briefly go
through this, but I'm not going to, I'm not, I'm going to come
back and we'll expound on this second and third one a little
more later, but I want you to get the gist of it. Look what
he said, for say it to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then this is the conclusion of the matter. Listen to it carefully.
It is not of him that will it. You understand salvation is not
by the will of man. that destroys all free will religion. It is not of him that will it. Is that not plain? You tell me
God's unrighteous to do such a thing. I'll tell you this,
He said to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom? On whom I'll have mercy. So who's in charge of mercy? Who's in charge of compassion?
You? God, you've got to have mercy
on me. Is that mercy? I chose you. You must have mercy
on me. I chose you. Is that mercy or
merit? That's merit. God says I'll have
mercy on you. So then the conclusion, it's
not of him that willeth. Salvation doesn't come by the
will of man. Listen, ìNor him that runneth.î
Well, thereís a lot of running going on in religion, isnít there?
Run over here and do this. They run over there and do that.
Theyíre so busy, working, earning, earning, trying to merit their
favor with God. You ask them, ìAre you going
to heaven?î They say, ìWell, Iím trying real hard.î Theyíre running, like a hamster in a wheel, running
and going nowhere. Because your works will never
merit the favor of God. There is nothing you can do to
earn God's favor. Not a thing! Salvation doesn't
come by works. Well, how does salvation come?
It's not of him that willeth or him that runneth. Listen,
here it is. But of God that showeth mercy. God that showeth mercy. Then
he gives the illustration of Pharaoh. He said, Pharaoh, I
raised you up for one thing, to show my power. See, that's
the only reason Pharaoh ever lived. You understand that? His
whole life, his whole life was to show God's power in destroying
him. That's it. Therefore, what's the conclusion?
He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy. And listen, whom
he will, he hardeneth. There's a scripture that says,
I have blinded their eyes, lest they should see. Isn't that something? Who blinds the eyes of men so
they don't see the gospel? God does. And you're already
blind. You're already born that way.
Pharaoh, the scripture says, Pharaoh hardened his heart. But
in truth, he was just being, God gave him what he wanted to
do. That's all he had. You know what
God has to do to damn a soul? Nothing. Just leave you to yourself. Does he do anything against what
you want to do? Now, he stops you from being
as wicked as you can be. He restrains you. But really, He just gives you
the desire of your own heart. And so what is salvation? What
is election? It's this, it's mercy. Now listen,
I know God chose the people and Christ died for them and I know
they're going to be saved. How are they going to be saved?
By the preaching of this gospel. By the declaration of this gospel,
God's going to show them, first of all, they're dead. That they need mercy. That's
important, isn't it? God's going to have mercy on
one specific group, those that need mercy. Free will religion
don't need mercy, they need a decision. Works religion don't need mercy,
they need to just work harder. When you've got a man who can't
do anything, he's dead, what does he need? Mercy. The defining characteristic of
mercy is this, you can do nothing to earn it. Because if you can,
it's not mercy. I have never met, in scripture,
one who came to Christ for mercy that didn't find it. This is what God will do to His
elect. He will always bring them to
see their need of mercy. And then what is He going to
do? He's going to show mercy. Why? Because He willed it. He
willed it. So is God unrighteous? I know
this. God would have been righteous
to send me to hell. Listen to me. It's the only thing
the only thing I deserved. But instead, God loved me with an everlasting
love. In love, Christ came and died
for me. In love, the Spirit said to me
live. In love, He gave me faith. And the faith I still have today,
it is a product of that eternal love and election of God. And the only reason I know I
am going to heaven is because God purposed it. Who can stop
him then? Is God's word void? God promised
to save Israel. Did he? Yeah. Well, who are they? They are
the elect. Is God unrighteous to do that?
Not at all. Why? Because every one of his
elect are saved by mercy. Now, if you earned it and God
did that, sure, God would be unrighteous to do that. But you
didn't earn anything. You couldn't. So God is righteous
to save his elect. The other one is then, you know,
Why does he find fault with anybody? That's the other objective, isn't
it? Well, God chose a people and Christ died for only them
and the Spirit's only going to choose them. Those that are hated
of God, since they didn't do anything, how could God be just
to throw them in hell? How could God blame them? Listen
to this. Paul says, who do you think you
are? He comes to the pinnacle, the
height of our wisdom or understanding. He said, I'll tell you the truth.
I can't really answer that, but I know this, who do you think
you are? Putting God under your microscope of justice, just because you can't grasp
it, how dare you accuse God of being unholy or unrighteous? So there's the objections. Do
you think the word of God is void? No, God's going to save
Israel. Who are they? He elect. Is God
unjust for that? No. What about their, how could
God do it? Who in the heck do you think
you are? Hath not the power of the declared? Listen, make of
the same lump. Listen, we weren't taken from
a different lump, were we? We who believe, we're chosen,
taken from the same lump. And so then, you who believe,
who gets the glory for your salvation? I hope that I've not exalted
man this morning. Have I given you any reason to
glory in yourself? No. Why would you think that? I pray that if I've even slipped
up once, that I never intend to give you any glory. But God deserves the glory, the
praise. And I'll tell you in heaven,
that's all we do, is praise God. You chose me, you redeemed me,
you called me, you keep me, you saved me. You, you, you, you. False religion says, you! It's all on you! Thank God it's not all on me.
Salvations of the Lord. I pray God will bless this. Let's
stand and be dismissed in prayer. Pray for me as I try to go back
and I'll run over this ground next time. We'll just run over
it and run over it and run over it and hope the Lord will bless
it. Let's be dismissed in prayer. Gracious Father, dismiss us with
your own blessings. No power in the preacher, no
power in the hearer. Salvation belongs to you. Save
your people as you promised. Convince them of their sin. And
point them to the blessed Redeemer who has accomplished their salvation.
I beg you to do this in Christ's name. Amen.